WATERED RUM AT OTAHEITE. 85 



unburnt, being soaked with water from the rum ; 

 for Jim was all wrong in his notion that the old 

 man was using him right. 



Nevertheless, Jim got the barrel on shore safe 

 and sound, dug a hole in the sand near his hut, 

 and there he buried his prize. But poor Jim 

 had the misfortune to lose the greater part of the 

 stuff, for he went on a roaring drunk that lasted 

 several days, and Her Majesty's coppers kept a 

 bright lookout for the rum. Now, as Jim had 

 regularly dug up the cask once every day to get a 

 new supply of the fiery stimulant, the Imperial 

 Dogberrys soon found it and smashed it, the vile 

 stuff soaking down into the thirsty soil with a 

 rapidity that quite broke old Jim's heart. 



Our ship got a bad, bad name at Otaheite — 

 they called the old hooker " The Floating Grog- 

 shop," and we well deserved the title. And yet I 

 would have you remember, reader, that I was not 

 in any way responsible for that rum-selling, 

 though every infernal drop was sold at my hands. 

 I was only a cabin-boy, and I had to do what I 

 was told to do, and that was the honorable 

 business the old man set me about. 



Just one other incident of our stay at Otaheite 

 seems to me worth telling. I was not allowed to 

 go ashore with the crew on liberty, as I was the only 



